A prospective multicentre study of pharmacist initiated changes to drug therapy and patient management in acute care government funded hospitals

Abstract

AimsTo determine the cost savings of pharmacist initiated changes to hospitalized patients' drug therapy or management in eight major acute care government funded teaching hospitals in Australia. MethodsThis was a prospective study performed in eight hospitals examining resource implications of pharmacists' interventions assessed by an independent clinical panel. Pharmacists providing clinical services to inpatients recorded details of interventions, defined as any action that directly resulted in a change to patient management or therapy. An independent clinical review panel, convened at each par ticipating centre, confirmed or rejected the clinical pharmacist's assessment of the impact on leng th of stay (LOS), readmission probability, medical procedures and laboratory monitoring and quantified the resultant changes, which were then costed. ResultsA total of 1399 interventions were documented. Eight hundred and thir ty-five interventions impacted on drug costs alone. Five hundred and eleven interventions were evaluated by the independent panels with three quarters of these confirmed as having an impact on one or more of: length of stay, readmission probability, medical procedures or laboratory monitoring. There were 96 interventions deemed by the independent panels to have reduced LOS and 156 reduced the potential for readmission. The calculated savings was $263 221 for the eight hospitals during the period of the study. This included $150 307 for length of stay reduction, $111 848 for readmission reduction. ConclusionsThe annualized cost savings relating to length of stay, readmission, drugs, medical procedures and laboratory monitoring as a result of clinical pharmacist initiated changes to hospitalized patient management or therapy was $4 444 794 for eight major acute care government funded teaching hospitals in Australia.M. J. Dooley et al. 51457 :4 Br J Clin Pharmacol

Views of pharmacists on involvement in ward rounds in selected public hospitals in Limpopo Province

“…Similarly, the 'scope' of pharmacist involvement needs to be worked out carefully and communicated to the pharmacists and other health professionals, especially the doctors and nurses with whom the pharmacists will interact on the wards (Dooley et al 2004). The joint effort of clinical pharmacists, educational institutions and the SAPC will be required in order to ensure the smooth introduction of these activities through CPD activities.…”

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